Apart from the fact that I never want to eat muesli bars again, or that I can never go more than a day without a shower, we learnt a lot of valuable lessons along the journey. Lessons I think we should take into account with our everyday lives.

One step at a time!

So what were the key takeaways from the trip? As a team and as a business, as long as we all work together we can achieve anything we set our mind to.

See everything of a positive lens

Taking much-needed breaks will give you more energy to get to your desired outcome and we also gained increased confidence to face difficult tasks and challenges, improved communication and collaboration, individual leadership, teamwork and support when times are tough, confronting and dealing with weaknesses and enhanced listening skills and improved focus.

Always reflect

In the end, all 11 of us learnt not only about the business and each other, but also themselves as we hiked 60km and climbed 1,700m over five days.

Work as a team!

Just like my trip to Malaysia and Singapore, I learnt a lot about myself. I learnt that women are bloody powerful people, honestly, the motivation we all gave and received was just inspiring.

Push yourself, no matter what!

From that trip to Malaysia and Singapore, I never expected to meet the people I did, I never knew I could go so far out of my comfort zone like I did. I feel as though this study tour helped me as a person as well as taught me new skills that can improve my professional life as well as my personal one, that is exactly what happened in New Zealand.

Lessons learnt are the best type of lesson

So I want to talk about the key aspects I took away from this:

Reflection is so important! Whether it is admiring an amazing view in the wilderness of NZ or being proud of an amazing achievement, you need to always reflect! This will make you appreciate yourself as well as the people and things around you

Happiness is everywhere, you just need to be grateful for what you have and where you are right now because we are all on a journey to where we need to be, we just need to believe it and be grateful for it

Take it all in!

Routine can be messed with. A break from your normal routine can give us time to reflect on it, how we can improve it and what we actually take away from it all. Whether you’re having a busy week or you’re travelling – it is okay to break routine.

Adapting when you need it is important. Just like change, we need to learn how to change to every situation we are put in, good or bad! When in New Zealand I learnt that change is inevitable and adapting will ensure I was no left behind (literally)

Beauty can mean no makeup

Challenges are part of life and it is how we overcome them and how we face them is what shapes us as people! When faced with challenges in New Zealand it was how we overcome them, which made us who we were on the trip – and the answer to that is strong! From even eating with no light to hiking up steep hills, the challenges were real

Pushing yourself is up to you, you decide how far you can go. Your mental strength is determined by you, so what will you decide? When we were climbing up that mountain all I wanted to do was give up but I didn’t because people supported me up that mountain and because I chose to push

Change happens, you need to adapt

Beauty is everywhere, you just need to look – even yourself! In New Zealand everywhere I looked there was something so beautiful, a mountain or grassland. Even now I’m back from New Zealand I see the beauty in the things I see every day, including myself without makeup on.

We are capable of so much more than we think

Now I’m back and I try to remember these things every day, even when I don’t want to! So when you take your next journey, always try and think of these learnings or take away your own!